Chamber and committees

I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

The Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004, which come into force on 1 May, require local authorities to maintain an electronic register for the geographical area of the authority relating to building standards information.  For construction of dwellings, energy ratings will be recorded. The possibility of extending the scope of the register to include energy performance certificate information for all buildings is currently being investigated.

I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

It is intended that the Directive will be fully implemented by 4 January 2006 with regard to energy performance requirements. However, if member states have a lack of qualified and/or accredited experts to enable them to apply fully the provisions of certain articles that require inspection or certification, the directive permits an additional three years to carry this out. Any notification to the European Commission of the need to do this will be done by the UK Government. Numbers of experts available are currently being assessed.

I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

Energy certification of buildings can be introduced through the building standards system. All the primary legislation is in place with the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 coming into force on 1 May 2005. Secondary legislation and supporting guidance will be required to commence a roll-out of certificates.

I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

The EU Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings will be implemented in Scotland by the SBSA, on behalf of Scottish ministers, using the new building standards system.

In the first six months of theHamilton Child Safety Initiative (HCSI), which started in October 1997, 200 childrenwere removed from the streets by the police when they had concerns about their safety.The majority were taken home to their parents, with only four charged with any formof crime or offence. Strathclyde Police re-launched the initiative for a furthertwelve month period, in November 1998, as the Children and Young People’s SafetyInitiative (CHYPS), covering the whole of Hamilton. Following a review of CHYPS,Strathclyde Police decided against continuing the programme as a separate initiativeand instead extended the principles underpinning the initiative into community policingmore generally.

Figures for the number of childrentaken home by the police or detained in police custody are not available centrallyfor the later phases of this initiative. They are also not available centrally forother police forces.

No properties have been compulsorilyacquired. Fifteen properties have been acquired on a voluntary basis. The Road Ordersand Compulsory Purchase Order were made on 24 March 2005.The Compulsory Purchase Order enables the Scottish ministers to compulsory purchasethe remaining properties and interests required for the scheme. There are around220 plots in the Compulsory purchase order, although it is hoped that the majorityof these will be acquired by agreement.

The Executive is committed tothorough, effective and appropriate consultation in formulating policy.

Prior to the launch of our consultationdocument, Blood testing following criminal incidents where there is a riskof infection, exchanges took place with the Canadian Professional Police Association,the Scottish Police Federation, the Information Commissioner, the Scottish CriminalRecord Office, the Scottish Prison Service, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary,the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, Health Protection Scotland,Rape Crisis Scotland and the Judicial Studies Committee. The issues were also discussedat the 2004 International Law Enforcement Conference hosted by the Scottish PoliceFederation.

There was also regular contactbetween the Executive and the Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee,and the issues were debated in the Scottish Parliament on 20 February 2003, in thecontext of the proposed Amendment 76 to the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

Further discussions with particularstakeholder groups may take place in the light of responses now being received tothe consultation, to ensure that a wide range of views is taken into consideration.

This information is not held centrally.

For police officers, the Scottish Police Federation has advised that during the year 2003-04 there were 24 incidents (not all of them necessarily involving an alleged offence) following which police officers embarked on a course of post-exposure prophylaxis as a precaution against possible HIV infection. One officer is thought to have been infected with hepatitis B during that period, but none with HIV or hepatitis C.

Health Protection Scotland would keep records of any such incidents if brought to their attention by health boards. However, they are not aware of any cases over the last 12 months.

Executive expenditure on the M74 completion project to date and for the last financial year to end March 2005 is shown in the following table:

	Spend to date	Spend in Financial Year to End March 2005
Scheme Design	£3,232,270.57	£117,878.83
Publicity and Information	£333,006.58	£3,565.33
Public Local Inquiry	£479,098.15	£182,121.26
All Other Costs	£36,923,858.21	£18,233,002.72
Total	£40,968,233.51	£18,536,568.14

Notes:

1. The Executive contributes 87.35% to the total cost of the scheme.

2. Publicity and information costs relate to setting up and running the M74 completion website, public exhibitions (preparation of display material, hire of halls etc), production of brochures and advertising of statutory material.

3. Other costs principally relate to land purchase and compensation but also include ground investigation, archaeological surveys, topographical surveys and traffic surveys.

4. Spend in financial year to end March 2005 is estimated.

Scottish ministers are considering the detailed recommendations of the Working Group on Hate Crime and will respond to it in due course.